Angelfall, Raffe's POV
by Sanddd
Summary: thst title sums it up I think ;)
1. Chapter 1

I don't know how long I've been sleeping, I had vaguely registered noises that must mean that the girl has not left me. Yet.

Now I'm alert, but still dozing in and out , I'm very far from ok but I'll live. And all thanks to the girl, why has she saved my life? I can't think of any reasons … she must want something form me, but what? Well, speaking of the devil, the girl comes in the room and kicks the couch where I'm sleeping yelling "Wake up, damn you. Wake up! Where the hell is she?"

Oh good God, the kicking and the yelling annoys the hell out of me, but I only look at her and tell her that I want to keep on sleeping.

She kneels so that she's looking me in the eye looking intense.

"Where did the other angels go? Where did they take my sister?"

This little chat will have to wait till I'm feeling ready to put up, with this little annoying creature. I close my eyes, trying to ignore her. She slaps my back with al her might, the .overwelming. But not just physical , the burning in my back reminds me what I lost, my wings, kind of my…self, rage swamps me, those bastards were going to pay. Wh…the girl interrupts my dark train of thought.

"You don't scare me." Yeah….right, she hides it kind of well though and she's alone with me, She's brave I think. "You're too weak to even stand, you're practically bled out, and without me, you'd already be dead. Tell me where they took her." Her sister, she'll be dead by now, that's for sure.

"She's dead"

"You're lying , you're lying"

I'm not, I just want to go back to sleep without her bothering me, maybe now she'll leave me alone.

"Look at me! " guess not, I open my eyes and see my wings as they hit the floor, an acute pain rips through me, wingless, what am I now? An angel without wings, a mere monkey.

"recognize these?" Her voice is cold and hard, I wonder what is she planning to do with my wings, but maybe I'll find someone to sew the back on, I must give it a try but then she must not know I want them. That will just give her power over me, I won't allow any monkey to have power over me. I won't.

"If you help me find my sister, you can have these back. I saved them for you"

"Thanks, they'll look great on my wall " I try to just let her see the bitterness in my voice, not the hope.

"Before you and your buddies destroyed our world, there used to be doctors who could attach a finger or a hand back onto you if it happened to be cut off."

That's just my luck, a clever monk ey this one.

"I didn't cut these off you," she says. "But I can help you get them back. If you'll help me find my sister."

That's just what I feared, I close my eyes and go back to sleep that way I'll have more time to think what I'm going to do and maybe convince her that I don't care what happens to my wings.

I hear her locking the door, and my wings. She's overconfident thinking that I'm weaker than I actually am. So I decide that even if she saved my life she signed her death sentence trying to bribe me. She dies tonight. What a pity.

_Soooo, English is not my native language but I'll try my best because I miss sooooo much these characters, so if you see any typos or mistakes in general please let me know! help me improve :) and well reviews will be much appreciated ._

_X S._


	2. Chapter 2

I hear her approaching , so I decide to stay "asleep" until I see what she's up to. When she starts to duct taping my ankles and wrists, I let her do it, it's best if she thinks I'm vulnerable . I'll rip my bindings when she's distracted.

While she is tying me up I observe her, she is short and skinny, her clothes folding and hanging everywhere and her hair is dark brown, cascading down to her waist.

She poses no threat to me, that's for sure, she can act like a mercenary if she wants but she's just a daughter of man, and a tiny one I must add.

Finally, she ends her work and looks at me with her deep deep brown eyes. For a second these eyes distract me from everything. There are just so many things hidden behind them that one wants to get to know this little monkey. I have second thought about damaging her.

But just then, she speaks.

"Where did they take my sister? "

I almost roll my eyes. Not this again please, I already told her she was dead, end of story. Why oh why couldn't she just let it go, do the normal thing, cry a little and then move on with her life. That's the behavior I've observed in my years of watching at least. Even if she was alive there's no way this scrawny daughter of man could do anything about it.

She holds my wings and takes scissors. A wave of fear comes over me without me being able to control it, my wings have been a source of pride for a long time, I'm getting really anxious which I see as I sign of weakness on my part, so I reassure myself thinking they will be a sign of my splendor soon, I'll get them back; I HAVE to get them back. There's no choice, no other way of living. The resolve of doing so numbs the sadness but not the burning hatred I feel for Beliel and the bastards that helped him cripple me. Hatred now directed to this scraggy little monkey threatening to deform my beautiful wings.

"How the hell should I know?"

I know I'm not being useful to her, and she's showing she's desperate so I need to keep my cool, take my wings.

"Because you're one of the stinking bastards."

"Ooh. You cut me to the bone with that one."

If it wasn't for my wings being what she's threatening to maim, her pirate pose with all the swearing and the attitude would be kind of funny, but they are so I don't find it funny at all.

"Didn't you notice I wasn't exactly chummy with the other fellas?"

"They're not 'fellas' They're not anywhere near human. They're nothing but leaking sacks of mutated maggots, just like you."

"leaking sacks of mutated maggots?" I raise an eyebrow, mutated maggots, seriously?

She snaps her scissors cutting through some of the feathers of my wing. They won't ever look the same as they did. All the rage I've been feeling directs now towards her. I'm not tolerating this, a stinky human disfiguring my wings?

"Try doing that again, and I'll snap you in half before you know it"

I give her a menacing look and she seems to get it.

"Big words from a guy who's trussed up like a turkey. What are you going to do, wobble over here like an upside-down turtle to snap me in half?"

"The logistics of breaking you are easy. The only question is when."

"Right. If you could do it, you would have done it already."

"Maybe you entertain me. Like a monkey with an attitude and a pair of scissors"

She does entertain me, if it wasn't for her with all her funny angry kitten fury , I would allow much darker thoughts to surface, maybe let them swallow me, paralyze me.

"You think this is a game? You think you wouldn't be dead already if it wasn't for my sister?"

She viciously chops through the soft perfection of my wing making it look jagged and mangled, red hot fiery feelings flow through me, right now, she's like the incarnation of every single one of my enemies to me. She's paying for this.

"Penryn?" a woman's voice comes through the door "Are you all right?"

As she turns towards the door I rip the duct tape and snatch the scissors out of her hand.

"I'm fine mom"

Her voice is pretty steady, considering that she knows she must know I'm going to kill her, well along with stubborn and annoying she's brave, she doesn't want her mum to be endangered but that is not a big enough redeeming quality for what she has just done.

I slide my arm around her thin throat and start to squeeze it. She grabs my arm, presumably trying to loosen my grip, but no, she crouches and springs back with all her might, even when I feel as if my back has just caught fire I don't let her go, she does the same move again and I feel something stabbing my wounds, the pain is unbelievable and I let go.

Her mother keeps calling her, each time more frantic than the last one, but she seems to be having a hard time trying to speak as she struggles to breathe normally. To my regret I feel a reluctant admiration for this creature. She was not going to go down without a fight, even knowing she could not beat me in any way. This behavior is more typical of me, a warrior than of a skinny thing like her , but thanks to that courage my back feels in flames again, so it doesn't' make me feel inclined to help her.

"Penryn Young, you open this door right now!"

Her mother sounds like she's about to knock the door down.

"Penryn? Are you okay? "

Penryn ….I know her name now, names have power and this one is special, one of a kind. I'm starting to believe that her owner possesses the same qualities.

"Yeah, it's okay"

We are both in bad shape, I don't think she's going to attack me so I lie down on the sofa, try to get some healing rest.

Us angels heal a lot faster than humans, but that takes energy and I've had a whole lot of healing to do so I'm exhausted. I eye her, and she flashes me an evil grin, feeling smug I see, little witch.

"You," I shoot her a dirty look "don't deserve salvation."

"As if you could give it to me," she croaks "Why would I want to go to Heaven anyway when it's crammed full of murderers and kidnappers like you and your buddies?"

Keeping her bravado up uh?

"Who says I belong in Heaven?"

I've never been in Heaven, the messenger is the one that supposedly goes there and talks to God, and then comes back and tell us what to do next. Gabriel sent me and my Watchers to roam the earth protecting the humans for they are God's beloved children, but now as the little witch pointed, we are tearing their world, killing them, and since Gabriel's dead maybe entirely without a higher purpose. Things like this make me question if all the death I have brought upon this world makes me unworthy of Heaven, or if it even exists.

But instead of sharing these angelic matters with a daughter of man, I give her a dirty snarl to illustrate my words.

"Penryn? Who are you talking to?" Her mother sounds even more frantic than before, if that is possible.

"Just my own personal demon, Mom. Don't worry. He's just a little weakling."

Her….what? Her mother is going to burst in one way or another, what kind of answer is that to a worried mother? This girl has a weird sense of humor.

"Okay. Don't underestimate them. And don't make them promises you can't keep."

She sounded calm and I hear her steps as she goes away, What on earth? What kind of motherly advice was that? I hear the girl chuckle. Chuckle, I'm starting to think she's insane.

"Here" she says as she tosses me a roll of bandages, "You probably want to put pressure on that"

Nah, I don't , this is no angel sword wound, it'll heal as soon as I get some sleep, and besides….

"How am I supposed to reach my back?"

"Not my problem" Of course. I throw the roll onto the carpet letting it roll I curl in the couch and start to take deep breaths counting the seconds I hold the air in. I know this will relax me enough and I'll fall asleep. I need it. Apart from healing I will also welcome the sweet oblivion of sleep, being able to not think about the little-monkey-Penryn, my wings or what I'm going to do to Beliel and his buddies seems awfully pleasant right now.

"You're not sleeping again, are you?"

"Ummmm" At least I'm trying to.

I wake up right before dawn; the girl has chained me to a freaking cart. Creative, I must give her that. She's sleeping in a chair in the corner, and without really thinking about it I come closer to take a better look, she looks so frail and doll-like in her sleep, that her being the same person who has chained me and tortured me seems almost impossible.

Some noise interrupts my evaluation of the sleeping girl, I hear several men slipping in the building, crystal shatter and footsteps getting closer. Penryn wakes up and I clamp a hand over her mouth shushing her before she reveals our location. She understands that something is wrong immediately, and we both tense in anticipation.

"Hell-ooo," a man's voice calls out playfully through the dark. "Anybody home?"

There are twelve of them, they hoot and holler outside, trying to scare us out so by the time they find us we'll be easy to beat. A woman's scream pierces the night, Penryn's mom.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Penryn banging a chair against the window causing almost no effect, my guess is she's trying to cause a distraction to help her mother, even if that leads the men to us.

Even injured I can take on twelve starving humans, and it doesn't seem fair to let them murder a defenseless woman to buy me some time. I swing the cart towards the window and it explodes. Penryn tries to help me escape through the window when something thumps hard against the door, but before she succeeds the door crashes open. Here they come.

I glance at Penryn and tell her to run, she has no chance to survive a fight against these men, and after all, I do owe her my life. This makes us even, I don't like to feel indebted to anyone.

She vaults out the window.

I face my opponents , as they hurl towards me I swing the cart at them, they look more cautious now, but still they are going in for the kill.

The cart is very heavy and each swing sets my back on fire, I know that it's just a matter of time, eventually I won't be able to lift the goddamned cart and…

"What have we here?" The girl is holding my wings behind her trying to make it look like she's an angel in order to scare off these morons "Michael, Gabriel, come see this," She makes a weird voice, the scene is so ridiculous and her acting is so poor that I almost burst out laughing. "The monkeys seem to think they can attack one of our own now." Everyone is staring at her like waiting to be thunderstruck or start burning in heavenly fire any second now, again, ridiculous.

In that moment she slips up, her… wait, MY right wing wobbles and trying to right it she ruins the charade but the distraction she's caused already is enough. The men are still in some kind of shock, how stupid can they be? Whatever.

I throw my cart at the three who are across me knocking them out, three more come for Penryn, I hope she can outrun them, I can't help her with five other coming at me.

I place the cart in the way of one of them, he trips and falls bringing one of his pals along with him, as they touch the ground I kick them both in the head while placing the cart like a barrier to direct my attackers. Two less, three to go. The next one is very sloppy in his attempt to cut me with his little tin knife; I just have change the arch of his arm, and let inertia do the rest. The last one is standing near the door, he has witnessed the fate of his friends and by the look of it, he's not eager to share it. I arch an eyebrow and he just runs off.

Behind me I hear grunts and moans of pain that must be Penryn's but they seem really … masculine, then again she never struck me as girly. I follow the sounds to find that they sounded masculine because they were. The moment I get where she is two men are rolling in the ground clearly in pain and she is fighting the last one. He's on top of her but she twists under his body and flips him onto his back, before he has time to react she slams her heel in his groin, gets up, and kicks his head, hard.

The kitty has paws.

"Nice" I say.

_AN:_

_HAPPY NEEW YEARRRR! :) Hope I'm getting better at this! _

_XXX._


	3. Chapter 3

She looks pleased for a nanosecond, then grim again, but before either of us decides to break the silence, three monkeys get up and stagger towards the exit, never looking back.

Victory. This victory was possible thanks to Penryn's intervention… recalling her trick to distract the gang members, I can't help chuckling a little.

"You looked, ridiculous with those wings" I tell her, she did, but it was also kind of endearing, like the puppies people dressed up with little human outfits. Even a tough guy like me would have a hard time hating those dogs.

She doesn't answer, just gets some key out of her pocket that must be the key to the thing that is binding me , and throws it to me, I catch it neatly of course.

"Let's get out of here" she says, I release myself, finally. I stretch and crack my wrists, out of the corner of my eye I see Penryn shaking like a leaf, so I take a denim jacket from one of our attackers and give it to her, who said angels aren't true gentlemen?.

I pick up her backpack while she wraps up my wings in a filthy blanket and we're in the lobby within a minute. She carefully straps my wings to her pack, with such gentleness that it's almost funny because she's only doing so cause she's under my gaze, it doesn't matter as long as she treats them good.

When I see my sword an unstoppable grin spreads across my face, an aftermath of the great joy I feel when I realize that my faithful companion in all these years has not abandoned me. She's the one thing that has kept me sane despite the complete solitude I've endured all this time. The fact that the girl had to be able to lift her again, doesn't escape me but instead of mulling over that thought, I think that if she gave me my sword during the fight instead of doing the absurd faking-I'm-an-angel trick it would have come to an end much sooner. Silly girl.

"You had my sword all this time?" I still don't get why she put herself in the path of danger when she could just have given me my sword and run.

"It's my sword now" she replies harshly.

"Your sword? You wish" she'll never leave me, much less to be with her, so I tell her

"Do you have any idea how loyal she's been to me over the years?"

"She? You're not one of those people who name their cars and coffee mugs, are you? It's an inanimate object. Get over it."

I ignore her and reach for my sword eager to touch her again, but the girls steps back not wanting to return my sword to me.

"What are you going to do, fight me for her?" I ask her, for it is the only way an angel sword will respect her and accept her as her new owner, granting that this new owner won the fight, and this child beating me, an archangel, is laughable.

"What are you going to do with it?"

My patience is wearing thin, an exasperated sigh escapes my lips "Use it as a crutch, what do you think?"

"I saved your life," she says

Yeah, only to torture me "Questionable."

"Twice."

I give up, too tired to argue "You're not going to give me back my sword, are you?"

She grabs a wheelchair and sticks the sword in the seatback pocket. Well she can carry her, we both know that the moment I decide to take her, I will. Soon.

I guess for now she can be my squire, I like the sound of that, I've always wanted one. Some of the other archangels had the weaker angels serving them. That isn't my style, but the thought of a companion that looked up to me as a mentor and someone who deserved loyalty, has always seduced me.

"I don't think I'll be needing that chair anymore,"

"It's not for you. It's for my sister."

Her sister needed a wheelchair, well the odds of her surviving in the aerie went from very very slim to nonexistent, but still I see Penryn has a determined look on her face, she is willing to throw herself into the impossible mission of rescuing her sister. I keep my thoughts to myself, preferring the unusual silence of this night.

As we walk my feet start to hurt , but it's the cause of that pain what irks me the most, my feet hurt because I should be flying, not walking. The shock of having lost my wings hits me as hard as the first time, I don't think I can get used to this, the sense of loss is so intense it's physical, without wings what am I? not angel, not human; so … well lonely it's an understatement.

My feeling-sorry-for-myself moment doesn't last long though, it's just not who I am.

As I shake off the dark feelings threatening to overcome me, the resolution of doing something about this mutilation of mine grows exponentially. I'll get my wings back on and then rip Beliel's of.f An eye for an eye.

While I'm planning the logistics of my plan I notice Penryn is heading for a small cottage, which must mean our journey is over for today, finally, I'll get to rest. That, I look forward too.

We enter the cottage in utter silence. I sit and remove my boots to my great pleasure. My feet are a freak show all covered with blisters and little wounds due to abrasion. Penryn suddenly hands me something, something weird and skin colored, what is this? Absentmindedly I put it up to my eye, I don't think it's for the eye though … I make a grimace, what is this again? When I look at Penryn ready to ask her for the mysterious object, she's smiling a little, while I get busy being surprised of her capacity to actually smile, she takes the thingy from me and says:

"Here, I'll show you how to use it. Let me see your foot"

Behaving finally, aren't we? Well the foot massaging thing is pretty intimate between us angels; it's kind of a fetish. So I tell her.

"That's a pretty intimate demand in the angel world. It usually takes dinner, some wine, and sparkling conversation for me to give up my feet."

The look of frustration in her faces as she thinks of an answer is comical, but in the end her only response is:

"Whatever, Do you want me to show you how to use this or not?"

I don't get why she sounds so sour, maybe I offended her with my comment… No I don't think so, she's just grumpy. Aiming to aggrieve her no more I stick out my feet as a silent response to her question.

She starts to work on my feet with more gentleness than I expect from her, then she asks

"What's your name?"

Of course, she doesn't know it… I'm used to being well known wherever I go, my reputation usually precedes me.

"Raffe" I tell her my nickname, which I haven't used in ages, instead of my full name, Raphael, the archangel, besides using that name and that title doesn't seem right now that I am…

"Rah-fie" She interrupts ….. repeating slowly my name. "I like the sound of that"

I catch myself being pleased with her little compliment, I suppress a smile, finding this girl somewhat kind is insane; I'm really not used to company.

"Raffe sounds like Raw Feet. Coincidence?" her attempt to joke gets an unwilling smile out of me and her chocolate eyes warm up, making her look very young, no trace of the villain she pretended to be when we met . Looking like that I feel a strange urge to just sit here bantering with her, as I did with my watchers in our spare time, but just then she rubs a particular spot in the sole of my feet that makes me gasp in unexpected pain, waking me up of my reverie. At the same time she speaks:

"So, aren't you going to ask me my name?"

"I already know your name." I say remembering the frantic shouts of her mother "Penryn Young, you open this door right now!"

"That's pretty good. You sound just like her."

"You must have heard the old adage that there's power in knowing someone's true name."

"Is it true?"

"It can be. Especially between species."

"Then why did you just tell me yours?"

I shrug, because I know you can't really hurt me.

"So what do they call you if they don't know your name?"

"The Wrath of God."

She freezes. I must have scared her, which wasn't my intention. I just wanted to tell her the truth, I could squash her in half a second if I wanted, a part of me of expected her to back away or show some of the fear I know I inspire in humans; Instead, she rises, looks me straight in the eye chin up, and says :

"I am not afraid of you, your kind, or your god."

That's the reaction the other part of me expected, pride overcoming the fear we both know she truly feels, I can't help but feel amused because her attitude reminds me of a young soldier's. I've trained enough of them to have observed certain patterns in their behavior and usually, they were wild, brave and proud beyond all the rest, hiding their fears was always their first priority.

"I don't doubt it Penryn" I say, this is the first time I called her by her name so I say it slowly liking the way it sounds, then, she turns around and tosses me the foot-things saying,

"Now you know how to use them. Welcome to my world." Turns around and while she starts going through her pack, she asks:

"Why are you guys here anyway?, I mean, it's obvious that you're not here for a friendly chat, but why do you want to get rid of us? What did we do to deserve extermination?"

If only we knew… Gabriel was a very cryptic messenger, only told us what he thought it must be told and when he died, the purpose of angel's stay in earth died with him, I didn't enquire about any of it because I was already here …

"Beats me" I say, shrugging.

She stares at me, seeming astounded so I give her the best explanation I can.

"Hey, I don't call the shots," I say. "If I was good at marketing, I'd spin you an empty story that sounds profound. But the truth is that we're all just stumbling around in the dark. Sometimes we hit something terrible."

"That's it? It can't be as random as that."

"It's always as random as that."

If I learned one thing that is you only can trust yourself. The messenger supposedly tells the angels God's will, but no one can check that, for God never talks to any other angels, archangels even, so we have to act on the messenger's word with blind faith ( which really isn't my thing ) like a cattle follows its shepherd, if the shepherd fails in his guidance the cattle goes wild.

She takes two plastic recipients and hands me one, as I eye her she opens hers and takes a bite of what's inside, I'm starving so I do the same. Whatever this is, it's dry, crunchy in a bad way and tasteless, but I have not eaten in days, so this is not the moment to be picky about food , before I know it I've eaten all my share and my stomach is far from full.

I notice Penryn is looking at me, for a second she looks doubtful but then she hands me half her share of the food, at first I don't want to take it, It's like charity, and accepting charity doesn't suit me, nor does being pitied. My lack of reaction towards her offer makes her speak:

"Don't you want it?" she asks.

"That depends on why you're giving it to me"

"Sometimes, as we're stumbling along in the dark, we hit something good." Cryptic, but sounds more like companionship than like pity so I take the food.

"Don't think you're getting my share of the chocolate, though" She says.

While she eats the chocolate I feel like I'm watching one of this commercials that show someone eating candy with a look of utter pleasure, honestly the only thing lacking to make the picture exactly the same is the exaggerated moaning, well, thank God she's not doing that.

Looking like that while she ate one would think she was going to eat it all, instead, she stores it in her pack again, seeming like she's saying goodbye to a dear friend, which makes me curious, if she wants it so bad, why doesn't she just eat it?

"Why don't you just eat it? We can eat something else tomorrow." I ask.

"It's for Paige." She's says zipping up the backpack.

Her sister, she refuses to believe that she won't find her; at least that she won't find her alive. That means the impossible rescue plan must be still on, I don't know if she's just too stubborn and proud, or just outright delusional . I'm about to tell her again that she should stop planning a rescue but then I see her leaving food outside. Acting this erratic, the delusional theory is winning points.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Nothing."

"Why would you leave food outside in the rain?"

"How well can you see in the dark?"

I consider denying I can see in the dark, wondering just how much I should tell her about angels and their abilities, but now that she saw for herself it's pointless. "Almost as well as I can see in the day." This way she also can't tell me she didn't leave food outside, I press my point, "So, why would you leave valuable food outside?"

"In case my mother is out there."

"Wouldn't she just come in?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

I nod, a woman who tells her daughter to keep the promises she makes to her personal demons is not a model of normal behavior.

"Why don't you bring the food in, and I'll tell you if she's nearby." I say.

"And how would you know if she's nearby?"

"I'll hear her," Giving her more Intel I guess... Damn it. "Assuming the rain doesn't get too loud."

"How good is your hearing?" She says, definitely collecting information.

"What?"

"Ha ha," She says dryly. "Knowing this stuff could make a big difference in my chances of rescuing my sister."

"You don't even know where she is, or if she's alive." It's about time she accepts this.

"But I know where you are, and I know you'll be headed back to the other angels, even if it's only to get revenge."

"Ah, is that how it is? Since you couldn't get the information out of me when I was weak and helpless, your big plan now is to follow me back to the nest of vipers to rescue your sister? You know that's about as well-thought out as your plan to scare off those men by pretending to be an angel."

"A girl's gotta improvise as the situation changes."

"The situation has changed beyond your control. You'll only get yourself killed if you follow this path, so take my advice and run the other way."

"You don't understand. This isn't about making logical, optimal decisions. It's not like I have a choice. Paige is just a helpless little girl. She's my sister. The only thing up for discussion is how I'll rescue her, not whether or not I'll try."

Passionate speech, now it's clear that she will attempt the suicide mission, even knowing she'll probably die in the process…"I wonder which will get you killed faster—your loyalty or your stubbornness?" I say.

"Neither, if you'll help me."

"And why would I do that?"

"I saved your life. Twice. You owe me. In some cultures, you'd be my slave for life."

"Granted, you did drag me out of the street while I was injured. And normally, that may qualify as saving my life, but since your intent was to kidnap me for interrogation, I don't think that qualifies. And if you're referring to your botched 'rescue' attempt during my fight with those men, I'd have to remind you that if you hadn't slammed my back into giant nails sticking out of the wall, then chained me to a cart, I'd never have been in that position in the first place." I say this with an skeptical tone, but just because I don't want her to believe I think I owe her anything, I do know she saved my life, and her feeble attempt of torture was nothing compared to the true torture I suffered before …I rather change the subject. "I can't believe those idiots almost bought that you were an angel." I add, chuckling at the memory.

"They didn't."

"Only because you screwed up. I almost burst out laughing when I saw you."

"It would have been pretty funny if our lives hadn't been at stake."

"So you know you could have been killed?" I figured she meant to provide some distraction for me to finish the task, thinking she wasn't going to get hurt, but if she knew she was risking her life and she did so to help me… I am thankful, but I won't ever admit it to her.

"So could you."

She gets up, retrieves the food and sits down silently, the silence flows between us for some minutes, before she speaks again. "What do they want with the kids?"

The plural catches my attention; I figured her sister was kidnapped as retaliation against her for having helped me, not that angels are now taking human kids…

"There's been more than one taken?"

"I've seen the street gangs take them. I figured they wouldn't want Paige because of her legs. But now, I wonder if they're selling them to the angels."

It's only a theory then, what the street gangs wants with the kids probably has nothing to do with angels, and also, the idea of angels negotiating with humans instead of simply taking what they wanted was off somehow.

"I don't know what they're doing with the kids. Your sister is the first one I've heard of".

The rain pounds on the windows and the wind scrapes a branch on the glass.

"Why were the other angels attacking you?"

"It's impolite to ask the victim of violence what they did to be attacked."

"You know what I mean."

I shrug really hoping she hadn't asked that, Beliel the demon who took my wings was after me for reasons unknown, and after weeks following me around telling me to join him in Hell he finally took action… just remembering the wounds in my back start hurting twice as much. Still I answer.

"Angels are violent creatures."

"So I noticed. I used to think they were all sweet and kind."

"Why would you think that? Even in your Bible, we're harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities. Just because we sometimes warned one or two of you beforehand doesn't make us altruistic."

And when I thought we were about to engage in either a discussion about angel nature, or some more information-digging, she hastily says: "You need me.".

Ha! I start laughing at the ridiculous thought, I'm an archangel for God's sake, there's no way I need a teeny tiny daughter of men but the origin of this absurd idea intrigues me, still laughing I say: "How so?"

"You need to get back to your buddies to see if you can get your wings sewn back on. I saw it in your face when I mentioned it back at the office. You think it might be possible. But to get there, you have to walk. You've never traveled on the ground before, have you? You need a guide; someone who can find food and water, safe shelter."

"You call this food?" It was disgusting, if I hadn't been starving to death I would never had eaten that stuff, another reminder of my new status, repelled by the thought of having to sustain myself in horrible food I throw the cup into the trash.

"See? You would have passed that by. We have all kinds of stuff that you'd never guess was food. Besides, you need someone who'll take the suspicion off you. No one would suspect you as an angel if you're traveling with a human. Take me with you. I'll help you get home if you'll help me find my sister."

"So you want me to lead a Trojan Horse to the aerie?"

"Hardly. I'm not out to save the world, just my sister. That's more than enough responsibility for me. Besides, what are you worried about? Little ol' me being a threat to angelkind?"

"What if she's not there?"

"Then I'll no longer be your problem."

It wasn't as simple as that, we both knew that, needing some time to think about everything going on I say:

"Let's get some sleep while it's still dark out."

"That's not a no, right?"

"It's not a yes, either. Now let me sleep."

"And that's another thing, it's easier to keep a watch at night when there are two of us."

"But it's easier to sleep when there's just one."

Finally she leaves me alone with my thoughts. Eyes closed I think about what my next step should be, I can either take Penryn's offer or leave her, some part inside me resist that thought though, I know I can handle solitude, but… in that moment I hear Penryn's footsteps coming back to the living room, what on earth does she want now?

Apparently just to sleep in the couch across me. I listen the cadence of her breathing and when it's quiet and regular, knowing she's asleep, I open my eyes.

Penryn lays curled up with a thin blanket, she looks relaxed, but then it's like she starts to worry about something in her sleep , a little crease appearing between her eyebrows.

Memories of the past days flow through my mind like a slideshow, allowing me to create an image of Penryn, she is brave, caring, stubborn, unintentionally funny… I discover myself liking a human, and oh boy, is it a shock.

The moment is disrupted by the distinct sound of hellions getting closer, I hear them approach like cockroaches , there are three to five of them. Thank god because I'm in no shape to kill off a large group, and I have to kill them all because if they see Penryn and associate her with me they'll hunt her down as they do with me. That I can't allow. The girl doesn't deserve it.

While they enter through the window in the empty bedroom I swing my sword, slicing one of them in half, and hurting other one with the inertia of the blow. Seeing that, the remaining ones try to get away, but I don't let them. With two more thrusts they are already dead.

Trembling for the pain I slowly return to the living room, Penryn is writhing in her couch, visibly disturbed by some nightmare and looking so very cold. It occurs to me that having my body heat I could help her, but the thought makes me uneasy even while it pops in my mind, being that close to a daughter of man... I don't know, it just feels wrong somehow.

In that exact moment Penryn starts whining as if she was trying to unconsciously coax me into getting her warm, starting to regret my decision as I do it, I take out the cushions on Penryn's back and slide in their place, gently putting my arms around her.

At first it's just like holding ice pressed to my body, but as she warms, the sensation changes, her body is relaxing as she presses herself even tighter against me and I start to relax too not knowing why I feel so comfortable I just disconnect, holding her I let go of the pain and the stress and for a moment there, I feel peace. I know this moment is a moment of weakness, that mustn't be repeated, but at the same time I know I want to repeat it already.

That's when I decide that I won't leave, or make her go, that I want this.

**_Sooooo, I'm sorry for the lateness! I've been crazy busy! I'll try to update sooner._**

**_Hope you've enjoyed the chapter. _**

**_:)_**


	4. Chapter 4

The first sun rays wake me up as they hit my eyelids; Ever so slowly, I untangle myself from Penryn and go back to my sofa, what in hell made me fall asleep holding a human? …hold a human and enjoy it? My conscious mind wants to blame it on loneliness that's been eating me up, I observe her deeply, looking for any outstanding features that could make her different from the rest, but before my inspection comes to an end she yawns and stretches her arms.

As she opens her eyes and sees me there looking at her a handful of expressions show in her face, each of them going away in a blink, but mainly it was self-consciousness and anger what I got, but neither of them I understand.

She wakes up abruptly and takes her toiletries with almost violence, she turns and starts towards a bathroom, I decide to share with her my decision before I change my mind, "Yes" I say.

She spins around, making her messy hair cover her face , I only can see one dark eye and her mouth set on a thin line, the image of a feline pops up again in my mind.

"Yes? "She replies.

"Yes, you can come with me," The cons of the plan start popping up in my mind like popcorn, and I start regretting taking her to the aerie while saying I will do it.

After that she heads to the bathroom without a word.

Well, I expected some gratitude for my good deed, but what's done it's done, so I decide to take a shower in the other bathroom.

The bathroom is equipped with a modern shower plate, stripping, I get in and let the combination of cold water and the sun rays filtering through the window relax me. The relax only lasts about a minute though, sighing I get out the shower and find a soft towel in a cupboard, I dry myself desapasionatly .

Back in the living room, seeing Penryn is going to take longer than me to be ready I decide to have some preening done, my wings, as I'm seeing are in a lamentable state.

Sitting in the floor with my wings in my lap, I slowly start taking away the unfixable ones and fixing the ones that can be fixed, the state of my wings fills me with the same fury and sorrow that I felt when Beliel cut them off, supposedly time makes feelings fade slowly, but I think that only applies to humans as they're ephemeral creatures. In that moment becomes clear that even if I get my wings back, I won't be able to forget this, let alone forgive.

I'm so focused on my task that I don't hear Penryn when she comes in, but then I see her out the corner of my eye, stopping behind me. She stays silent for a moment, finally speaking she says:

"Should I, like, try to sew your wounds shut?" She asks sounding disturbingly hopeful, maybe she has a frustrated doctor vocation, umph, I really hope that's not the case human knowledge of medicine is very limited to say the least. "No," I say without looking up from my work. "It'll eventually heal on its own."

"Why hasn't it healed already? I mean, the rest of you healed in no time."

"Angel sword wounds take a long time to heal. If you're ever going to kill an angel, slice him up with an angel sword."

"You're lying. Why would you tell me that?"

"Maybe I'm not afraid of you."

"Maybe you should be."

I roll my eyes, this girl is utterly absurd.

"My sword would never hurt me. And my sword is the only one you can wield."

"How's that?"

"You need permission to use an angel sword. It'll weigh a ton if you try to lift it without permission."

"But you never gave me permission."

Ah yeah, the question I have purposely ignored, why on earth would my sword let her lift her was a mistery for me, I mean at first to help me, sure, but then? could she sense my presence and still let the girl wield her? does she think the girl is worthy? ... nah that can't be, but she'll tell me, I know she will, last night we didn't have the time to bond while killing off some hellion but I did sense joy for our reunion for what it's worth.

"You don't get permission from the angel. You get it from the sword" I say. " And some swords get grouchy just for asking."

"Yeah, right."

"I never asked permission and I managed to lift the sword no problem."

"That's because you wanted to throw it to me so I could defend myself. Apparently, she took that as permission asked and given."

"What, it read my mind?"

"Your intentions, at least. She does that sometimes."

"O-kay. Right."

She obviously doesn't believe me, that proves that my sword hasn't tried to communicate with her, that soothes me, she knows that the human is useful to me and she lets her lift her as a baby would let a stranger take it to its mother.

"So...you want me to bandage your back?"

"Why?"

"To try to keep infection out," she says and for the sound of it she's already looking for bandages.

"Infection shouldn't be a problem."

"You can't be infected?"

"I should be resistant to your germs."

Then there's silence for a minute while she thinks about that last revelation, I guess she would try to fish for information again, what germs could kill an angel, and that kind of stuff I figure.

"So…are you immunized or something?" She says, trying to sound nonchalant, ha! I was right, this girl is getting easier to read, I don't want her to go out there trying to make biological weapons to exterminate angels even if it would be a futile attempt, I decide to make clear that there's a limit to the information she'll get from me.

"It's probably a good idea to bandage me up anyway," I say, "I can probably pass for human so long as my wounds are covered."

Wordlessly she starts to wrap my torso with bandages in a harsh manner I try to spin my head and look at her while she does it, try to read in her face why she's being so rough. Before I can do so, she speaks:

"Try not to move around too much so you don't bleed again. The bandages aren't that thick and blood will soak through pretty quickly."

"No problem," I say, "Shouldn't be too hard not to move around as we run for our lives."

"I'm serious. That's the last of our bandages. You'll have to make them last."

"Any chance we can find more?"

"Maybe."

Well, someone's not feeling very talkative today, so be it. We get ready to start moving quietly, filling up her water bottle and having some more of the last night's crunchy crap as a very scarce breakfast. By the time we leave the cottage, it is mid-morning. The first place we hit is the main house.

We separate, as I hear her rummage through the kitchen I look in the courtyard and find a bag of some kind of cookies, I decide to show Penryn as she is supposed to be useful in this aspect, at least that's why she's coming with me; Well, at least that's why I tell myself she's coming with me.

I find her standing in the middle of the kitchen with a disappointed look on her face, and as she turns to face me something else surfaces in her expression, something like a mix of surprise and disappointment, I don't know what on earth she's thinking right now to look like that, but we have more urgent issues to discuss.

"Is this edible?" I say

She dips her hand into the bag and bring out a few pieces of red and yellow kibbles. She crunches them making a really disgusting noise and a face that echoes it, but then she estates "Not exactly gourmet, but it probably won't kill us."

After that, we hit the garage, where we find supplies that Penryn seems to find useful, including a knife that she eyes with an expression lust-like ... a girl who likes her weapons and knows how to use them, I hide my smile as she gives me her old knife which shies in comparison to the one she just kept to herself and I undoubtedly would use best, but I say nothing, let her keep her toy.

After that in the bedrooms we get some clothes, she chooses jeans , white tee and a sweatshirt that looks like it could eat her up, then she finds me a human outfit, in which I hope to not find myself in front of any reflective surface that would show me just how human I look, with that thought my nonexistent wings begin to itch, but I distract myself , watching Penryn go around like a busy bee trying to find me other shoes, I try to tell her that my boots are fine, but apparently they don't fit the regular human image she must be picturing, I guess what that is, I've seen human boys some of them with that awful baggy jeans and those sneakers big as boats, Oh lord.

Just when I got to distract myself thinking about something as ordinary as human clothes she has to speak her mind.

"You look almost human dressed like that," She says

And with her words that phantom itch in my wings spreads again, it's so intense I almost feel like I have them back and in any moment I could scrape that place where the itch is located.

"So long as you don't bleed in the shape of wing joints, you should pass for human. Oh, and don't let anyone pick you up. They'll know you're not right as soon as they feel how light you are."

"I'll be sure not to let anyone but you carry me in her arms." With no other word, I leave the room, I'm sure she wasn't trying to be insensitive but her words reminded me what I was trying so hard to forget.

We leave the house in silence and then we start walking, it's around noon and the sky is overcast but it doesn't seem like it's going to rain again soon.

As we keep on walking, the sound of our steps synchronize mixing with the sounds of nature, creating an harmonious tune, but the peace of the moment is broken as we hit the freeway and a family liying on a pool of blood appears on sight.

A man, a woman, a girl about ten years old. The child is at the edge of the woods while the adults are in the middle of the road. Either the kid ran for it when the parents were attacked, or she hid during the attack and was caught when she came out.

They haven't been dead for long, no signs of rotting yet. They are chewed, chunks of their bodies and limbs are missing. It's a brutal attack, I don't think anything human or animal has caused this, I get closer in order to examine the bodies, see if I can get anything out of the chewing marks.

"Teeth marks," It was obvious , the shocking thing is that I've never seen anything like this before, sharper than human's but with the same shape … this is strange, to say the least.

"What kind of animal are we talking about?"

"The kind with two legs and flat teeth."

"What are you saying? That they're human?"

"Maybe. Unusually sharp, but human-shaped."

"Can't be."

She seems to be fighting the harsh truth, her people might be desperate enough to kill their own, and I can't say anything to soothe her.

"This is too wasteful. If you're desperate enough to cannibalize, you wouldn't just take a few bites and leave."

She's right, but maybe they had to flee, I keep on examining the corpses "The limbs have been ripped right out of their sockets." I observe.

"Enough," She says stepping back from the carnage, she looks around nervously, probably because she fears facing whoever did this. I can say something soothing this time though.

"Well," I say scanning the trees . "Let's hope whoever did this is still in control of this area."

"Why?"

"Because they won't be hungry."

She stares, looking shaken "You're pretty sick, you know that?"

"Me? It isn't my people who did this."

"How do you know? You have the same teeth we do."

"But my people aren't desperate .Nor are they insane."

I expect some comeback, a revolutionary speech about how we are responsible for their desperation and so on, but no reply comes out of her mouth, in her unusual silence, an uninvited thought pops up in my mind, Nephilim.

But this can't be them, that's why I haven't make the connection earlier, I have hunted them for ages, I would have noticed... I would have noticed, I would have noticed.

Maybe Penryn knows something, has heard stories about a gang of feral kids in their own, desperate orphans who could have done it.

"the bite marks, seem to be small for adults, I'm wondering… maybe kids did it, do you think it's possible? "

She doesn't answer so I keep on, "desperate kids may not have the morality of adults and if they found a family hurt or dead…" Still no answer, I look at her but she seems to be far away looking at a rotten egg near the dead kid, what does it have to capture her attention I don't know.

"Penryn?"

She snaps out of whatever reverie she was in and finally answers

"What?"

"Could they be kids?"

"Could what be kids?"

"The attackers,", I say. "As I've said, the bite marks seem too small to be adults."

"They must be animals."

"Animals with flat teeth?"

"Yes, that makes more sense than a kid taking down an entire family."

"But not more sense than a gang of feral children attacking them."

She remains silent looking very young and very scared, I decide to leave it for now, I don't think she would but if she panics she'll be a burden. So I decide against following the road in case there's some other scenario like this one. I tell her and she nods absentmindedly and follows me as I start heading to the forest.

Our path continues in silence, only the sound of our steps in the fallen leaves accompanies us, I walk thinking of the massacre on the road, I keep repeating in my head "human kids did it" like a chant, trying to convinve myself that nephilim have nothing to do with this.

I keep puzzling over it; regular kids could have perpetrated the attack but the teeth… why the teeth appear to be sharper is the piece missing in the puzzle…

A grunting noise breaks through my concentration, it comes from Penryn who is struggling to move her sister's wheelchair with all the wet dead leaves stuck in its wheels, I know we would move faster if she abandons it, but I can't seem to bring myself to tell her, I'm not offering to help though, even as I see she's starting to despair and we slow down even more now walking at a speed so low that's killing me. Still I hold back the comments.

If I had the chance to even attempt to save any of my watchers, wouldn't have I done it? Of course I would, even if that implied carrying some piece of metal hobbling me down on my way of doing so, Oh the irony. But that doesn't mean I don't get it, and respect it. Her loyalty is a remarkable trait of hers, I don't know if any other human would get in the aerie to attempt a rescue no matter who was took away from them, much less a daughter of men.

When we shift to a path covered in mud due to last night's rain she folds the chair with a sigh and carries it for a while, every step we take makes more obvious that she can't hike while carrying the piece of junk and finally she puts it down.

She starts to poke it with a stick till it's inevitably stuck. She stands, head bowed down, sloping shoulders, a perfect defeated position. Seeing her like that tickles me.

"You still have her chocolate, the rest is just logistics" I say, in a feeble attempt to make her feel better.

It doesn't work though, she keeps walking in silence, looking down like a sheep dumb before its shearers, and that image bothers me somehow. I think I know just how to fix it, I know it'll work if it was me, and something tells me that she'll react just like I would.

" Does moping actually help humans feel better?" I say

"I'm not moping," she shots back immediatly, I have to supress a smile as I say the line that I know will get her so riled up she'll have to forget about the wheelchair. "Of course you're not. A girl like you, spending time with a warrior demigod like me. What's to mope about? Leaving a wheelchair behind couldn't possibly show up on the radar compared to that."

She almost trips. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I never kid about my warrior demigod status."

"Oh. My. God." she says, there it goes. "You are nothing but a bird with an attitude. Okay, so you have a few muscles, I'll grant you that. But you know, a bird is nothing but a barely evolved lizard. That's what you are."

I chuckle thinking how easy to manipuate she is, that big pride, her Achilles heel. "Evolution." leaning over to add a secretive effect I add: "I'll have you know that I've been this perfect since the beginning of time." At this point, I'm enjoying myself.

"Oh, please. Your giant head is getting too big for this forest. Pretty soon, you're going to get stuck trying to walk between two trees. And then, I'll have to rescue you." She looks at me with a weary look. "Again."

She turns her back on me, and starts stomping away in some kind of dramatic exit that for me, just adds some fun to the already funny situation. My plan worked as smoothly as expected, not surprising really, but still satisfying.

She looks back, and then suddenly eyes me with a somewhat knowing look, I know that she knows, and knowing makes it better.

**_A/N _**

_Hey! I know I haven't posted in a looooooong time but I just didn't know what to write! in this part of angelfall I was like ...what is he thinking? I think I'm back on track though. _

_Lemme know what you think!_


	5. Chapter 5

As we keep on walking, a comfortable whispered conversation flows between us, we talk about where and when should we rest, where is most likely to find food, how long should we wait before we start moving again, soldier stuff. Of course she tries to sneak one question or two for her angel Intel collection, not taking it too far since we both are on full alert because of the carnage we saw earlier. Our synchronization though is surprising, she might not be noticing it but I am. The shared silences are used to scan one more time our surroundings and sometimes both she and I have answered an unasked question from the other, this is what I shared with my brothers in arms and finding it again even if it's on a tiny daughter of man is somewhat pleasant.

By mid-afternoon we reach Skyline Blvd. where we agreed to stop, a road dividing mountain and ocean, then we notice the cars.

They are spaced in a way that from the air, would suggest nothing. But on foot it becomes clear that is a barricade. The community that build it is near because I hear the soft rumble of the branches behind which they must be hiding.

"They are over there watching us" , I whisper.

"How can you tell?"

"I hear them".

"How far?"

I shot her a look that I hope says: it's not a good time for your clumsy spy job and shrug too.

To my utter surprise she shuts up and keeps quiet for quite a while, but just when I'm about to ask her about her unusual quietness she whisper in a somewhat embarrassed voice:

"What did you hear?" Well in that tone it seem that she's asking something infinitely more intimate, what the hell was she thinking about?... Focus!

I turn around and whisper back "Two people whispering" That's not entirely true but her breathy embarrassed tone made confused, and being confused made me resentful towards the source of said confusion aka the most annoying daughter of men in the planet earth.

For now she remains silent as she follows me, just fine if you ask me.

The environment works our way as the fallen leaves silence our footsteps and we slide through the forest, I begin to assess our chances if we were to find the source of the voices I heard, on one hand Penryn proved herself a skilled fighter, and I don't need to even think about my chances of beating some humans, but on the other hand… from the look of things we are facing an ordered, set to survive community which may contain armed men and against guns, well we are screwed.

Then I hear it, dogs. I start to jog so that Penryn can keep up but the following moment we break into a sprint, now both of us hearing the dogs approaching.

I hear the voices near too so the dogs must be trained by the community we found, guess we landed into the worst case scenario. Just my luck.

As we run I look for the salvation in a tree-form, but none seem to be climbable. Once again the place in my back where my wings used to be starts to itch from the want of flying, thinking what an easy scape it would have been, the frustration hits me hard. Very hard; But I just can't let it stop me, want her along or nor I feel that I need to guide Penryn to safety, I know I can handle the humans and the dogs, after all I can act dead after they shoot me and then get up again, but for her there's no waking up again and something stirs in me thinking of her getting killed on my watch.

Scanning the forest I find a branch low enough that I might reach it, but as I jump below it I find out that I can't and the same frustration floods me again making me hit the tree trunk with all the strength of it. We need to act fast though, and I still want Penryn safe, then I'll manage.

"Get on my shoulders" I say.

Too impatient to wait for her to unfreeze and do as she's told I lift her up till she's standing on my shoulders, with a bit of struggle she manages to get a hold on a branch and push off me, I know the dogs are getting too close and the people whom they belong too are nearer than I would like, but I just can't leave without knowing she's safe, she's just so little… But she is safe in the tree now, so I run away, fast.

It doesn't take longer to accept I'm being cornered, I start to think about my options, first option I could kill the dogs and the humans, but looking at their lair there will sure be more looking for these, I reluctantly discard this option as I slow down, I know that the other option is the best one but it requires spending the night at the god-damned lair these humans came from and my patience is wearing thin already from all this sloooooooow traveling on foot.

With a sigh, I let the dogs catch up with me and hit one of them so it screams leading the men to me, once they arrive I take in their military attire, the weapons they're carrying and the way they hold themselves, it's clear they're trained, and organized.

This is fantastic! just my luck running into the only human army that is left in what? The whole continent? I want to laugh at my misfortune but instead I focus on what's happening around me.

They aim at me and I just stand there, keeping my cool, one of them takes a step towards me, and asks me the regular stuff, who am I, have I any companions blah blah blah …

I remain silent and they start going through my backpack, as they see the stuff I'm carrying I know their chief has figured out I'm not traveling alone, but I see that they don't know what to do with that fact just as clear.

I know I can scape any human binding so I don't waste energy on arguing with my capture or even answering the questions that they keep making, the only time I get kind of nervous is when we walk past Penryn's tree, I can still her breathing up there so she must be fine, I just pray she will go somewhere safe, take my wings with her and hole up till I find her, it would be even better if she just stayed in that damned tree and slept there so I would be able to find her when I escaped, but I know that's extremely unlikely; after all she's just a daughter of man not a trained soldier like myself, so I shouldn't expect her to act like one.

When we get to the human's camp it's fully dark, clouds numbing the brightness of the stars. The camp is made up of different warehouses which I guess are meant for different purposes, as we make our way towards one of them I take in what I see, it seems to me from the look of things that the infrastructure is way beyond what the rest of them have managed to pull off. We finally arrive to our destination and I start evaluating the best way to get out the second I set my foot on the almost empty warehouse, the windows are way up so I'll be forced to use the door, tearing it off shouldn't be a problem but I'll have to wait until the noise won't be noticed which actually is a drawback, I start picturing different scenarios on my head but just then they open a door.

"Sit in that chair" . Says the one who seems to be in command.

He is tall dark haired and muscular, with kind of an air of authority and pride surrounding him.

As I oblige another one starts tying me up.

"You are being very obedient, why is that?" Asks the "leader"

"Well, let me see, I'm outnumbered and outgunned, yeah seems like a battle I could easily win"

"He speaks!" Leader exclaims with a grin. " excuse me for being so rough, but a man has to be distrustful these days. Anyhow, you have already seen the camp so you must be wondering what this is all about, and I'm not going to tell you"

They start surrounding me eyeing me like sharks, and asking questions, again. I'm not any more collaborative this time around and one of the "soldiers" decides to beat answers out of me, I take the blows without uttering a whisper which seems to be making them really unhappy, I smile my most dangerous smile.

"It's becoming quite obvious I'm not telling you anything so you can either stop or kill me" well, try to kill me but you know…

"You're right" says leader, " we'll leave you for now, but we will back in the morning and we won't be as patient as we have just been"

That was patient? I arch my brows in disbelief "I'll think about it" I say, I just want them to leave, their hits are just a few scratches to me, but they were getting ridiculously annoying, like little bees stinging, my urge to crush them was great.

"you do that, you'll have time" he smiles at his own joke and then leaves me there.

In the dark I start plotting, I'm in a small room inhabited by only the chair that I'm sitting on and a couch, the bad thing is the room it's not really secluded so that's an inconvenience. I'll have to wait till I can work out the pattern of the guards, other than that it shouldn't be difficult to get out.

Then I hear footsteps, light ones, It shouldn't be her but I have a hunch, it's Penryn that just got too impatient and now wants to try to bust me out or something, her mistrust in my abilities is rather hurtful.

"Raffe?"

There it is, the confirmation of my suspicions Penryn is here, I curse under my breath as I hear men approaching, they are getting nearer and from their whispers it seems like they think someone will try to bust me out. I have to try to warn her…

"Run Penryn"

But of course she doesn't listen, stubborn little thing, a soft click echoes through the room and her slender form appears in the doorstep.

"Why don't you ever listen to me" I ask utterly frustrated, now there is no way we are both escaping tonight

"You're welcome for rescuing you"

Annoying little …. "You're not rescuing me, you're getting yourself caught" idiot.

"They're asleep" Penryn says coming to cut my restraints "No they're not" as a matter of fact they're about to open the door.

Two men enter the room blinding me with their flashlights the leader one trails behind them, stopping at the entrance, he is leaning against the doorway casually, ugh what a showoff, what was that I heard the rest of them call him? Omi? Something monosyllabic for sure… what kind of name is that? Humph it does sound good for a dog though.

"I'm afraid I can't let you cut that" Oli says "We have a limited supply of rope"

And then they grab Penryn's knife and shove her into a chair, next thing she knows she is tied up next to me, damn that was easy! I need to teach her some what-to-do-if-you-get-yourself-caught tactics, well well well … she may know some already because she is tensing her arms up so the rope will be as loose as possible, useless effort seeing that the one binding her is trying to break her wrists apparently, son of a jackal.

"You'll have to excuse the lack of light" says leader "We're trying to avoid unwanted visitors"  
"Am I really that clumsy?" Penryn asks

"Actually, no. Our guards didn't see you and they were under orders to be on the lookout for you. Not bad, overall" He's complimenting her for being stupid, great, an exasperated sound escapes my throat.

"You knew I was here?"  
Leader-y-leader stands straight before answering looking oh so patriotic.

"We didn't know for sure, but the gear in his bag looked like half the supplies that a pair might carry. He has a camping stove but no matches, no pots or pans. He has two bowls, two spoons. Stuff like that. We figured someone else was carrying the matching half of the supplies. Although, frankly, I wasn't expecting a rescue attempt. And certainly not from a girl. No offense meant. I've always been a modern guy." He shrugs. "But times have changed. And we are a camp full of men." He shrugs again. "That takes guts. Or desperation."

Heavens…. Again he is complimenting her, like she needs a reward for being reckless

"You forgot lack of brains" I say, stating the obvious I think, but apparently somebody needed to do it, and even if she was stupid I didn't like the hint of interest in the leader's voice so I add "I'm your target here, not her"

"How do you figure?"

"You used five men and a pack of dogs to catch one guy, at that rate you're going to need three armies to get done whatever it is you're trying to do here."

He nods, " You obviously have prior military experience" I almost smile, you betcha puppy. "you didn't bat an eye when we pointed the guns at you".

"So maybe he's not as good he thinks he is if he's been captured before," says the one guarding me, uh-uh someone's pride is hurt! I bet he would not last for a second if captured.

"Or maybe he's special ops, trained for the worst situations," says the leader. He pauses as if waiting for my answer, well he can keep on waiting. In the pale moonlight his gaze finds me and the stare-down begins. My expression does not shift a bit and in his I find determination at first but it starts shifting to tiredness.  
Then he turns to Penryn. "You hungry?"

Her stomach growls like a bear coming out of its winter slumber, the three men take that as a yes and they leave as the leader says " Let's get these folks some dinner"

Dinner? As soon as I was going to open my mouth to tell Penryn not to eat anything they gave her, just in case, she says

"Tall, dark and friendly, What more could a girl as for?"

Has she hit her head? Snorting in disbelief I answer.

"They got a lot friendlier once you showed up. They haven't offeres me food all day".

"Are they just skittish, or are they really bad guys?"

"Anybody who ties you to a chair at gunpoint is a bad guy. Do I really need to explain this?"

My response comes out harsher than expected; still she needed to hear that. Was that all that was? A tiny voice, like a whisper inside of my mind keeps saying... maybe you know she should be changing her allegiances and you don't want her to… In desperate need to shut the annoying whisper I turn to Penryn to ask

"So what are you doing here? I risk getting chewed to pieces by a pack of dogs so you can escape, and then you run back here? Your sense of judgment could use a dash of common sense"

To my surprise, she says "Sorry, I'll be sure and never do it again" with just a hint of sarcasm

"That's the sanest thing I hear you say"

"So who are these guys?"

"Why? You planning on enlisting"

"I'm not much of a joiner"

We stare at each other in silence for a few seconds, her face tense and tired, I guess I'm not being fair to her, she did attempt to rescue me and even if even attempting to rescue someone far superior is stupid it was also loyal and brave, terms I now associate to this tiny human girl. Attempting to make peace, I say:

" You alright?" using my gentle tone.

She looks shocked for a moment, and then she answers, "I'm fine. You know we need to get out of here by morning, right? They'll be able to tell by then,"

I know what she is thinking but our captors are approaching and I have it all figured out by the way. The door opens and the smell of stew fills the room, looking at Penryn and see her mouth water. Literally.  
The american hero takes a chair and sits next to her, lifting the bowl under her nose. Slowly, he moves a spoonful closer to her mouth but stops halfway, another soldier does the same thing to me.

But I don't care, because I'm looking at Penryn as she regard the spoon with a look of utter desire and a dangerous thought crosses my mind, a question, has she ever regarded someone with that look? Damn my astray thoughts.

The leader's voice breaks my internal flagellation.

"What's your name?" I don't like his soft tone, Idon't like it one bit.

"My friends call me Wrath, my enemies call me Please Have Mercy. What's your name soldier boy?" I detect Penryn's face heating at my answer and I don't like it , I don't like it one bit.

"Obadiah West. You can call me Obi"

"Obadiah. How biblical. Obadiah hid the prophets from persecution."

He looks done with me and our conversation as he absentmindedly says " A Biblie expert. Too bad we already have one"

Looking at Penryn, he asks her "What's your name?"

"Penryn, Penryn Young"

"Penryn" He whispers her name, savoring it. What a bastard.

"When was the last time you had a real meal, Penryn?" He asks lifting the spoon just before she can reach it.

"It's been a while" She smiles at him, obviously begging him to finally let her eat.  
But instead he eats it and her stomach grumbles audibly as if protesting for being taunted so cruelly.

Fed up with the whole interaction I speak,

"Tell me, Obi, just what kind of meat is this?You'd have to catch a lot of animals to feed this many people,"

"I was just about to ask you what kind of animals you've been hunting," says Obi. "A guy your size must need a lot of protein to maintain your muscle mass."

"What are you implying?" Penryn asks. "We're not the ones attacking people, if that's what you're getting at."

Obi looks pointedly at her. "How do you know about that? I didn't say anything about attacking people."

"Oh, don't give me that look."

"You couldn't possibly imagine that I'd want to eat a person, could you? That's totally disgusting."

"We saw a family,Half-eaten on the road."

"Where?" asks Obi. He seems surprised.

"Not too far from here. You're sure it wasn't you or one of your men?"

I don't really think they did it, my gut tells me they didn't but humans are desperate now, and maybe survival of the fittest is the principle of this group.

"None of mine would do it. They don't need to. We have sufficient supplies and firepower to support everyone here. Besides, they got two of our men last week. Trained men with rifles. Why do you think we hunted you? We don't normally go after strangers. We'd like to know who did it."

"It wasn't us," Penryn says.

"No, I don't suppose it was you."

"He didn't do it either, Obi,"

"How do I know that?"

"We have to prove our innocence now?"

"It's a new world."

"What are you, the sheriff of the New Order? Arrest first, then ask questions later?"

"What would you do if you caught them?" I intervene.

"We could use people who are, shall we say, a little less civilized than the rest of us? Precautions would have to be taken, of course." Obi sighs. It's clear he doesn't like the idea but seems resigned to do what needs to be done.

"I don't get it," she says. "What would you do with a bunch of cannibals?"

"Sic them on the angels, of course."

"That's crazy,"

"In case you hadn't noticed. The whole world has gone crazy. It's time to adapt or die."

"By throwing crazy at crazy?"

"By throwing whatever we have that might confuse or distract, or maybe even repulse them, if that's even possible. Anything to keep their attention from the rest of us while we organize," says Obi.

"Organize into what?" I ask.

"Into an army strong enough to launch them off our world."

What? I control the urge to laugh, it's like an army of bees triying to defeat bears, yes they may sting some of them, maybe even kill one, but there is no chance of defeating all of them.

However the irony of it all is not lost on me, I'm in the heart of a newborn resistance against my own kind, of all the places I could have ended up, here I am.

"You're gathering a resistance army?" Penryn asks breathlessly.

"We prefer to think of ourselves as simply a human army, but yes, I suppose we are considered the resistance since we are the underdog by a long shot. Right now, we're gathering forces, recruiting and organizing. But we have something big planned. Something the angels won't soon forget."

"You're striking back?"

"We're striking back."

"How much damage can you do?" I feel like I have to ask, maybe they have some weapon that could really hurt us.

"Enough damage to make a point," says the resistance leader. "Not to the angels. We don't care what they think. But to the people. Let them know that we are here, that we exist, and together, we will not be pushed aside."

"You're attacking the angels as a recruiting campaign?"

"They think they've won already. More importantly, our own people feel like that too. We need to let them know the war has just begun. This is our home. Our land. Nobody gets to waltz in and take over."

Wow, I guess they aren't able to do really a lot of damage, but hope is a dangerous weapon, much more so to desperate people.

I regard Penryn who is staring at the floor not wanting to look at either of us, and I know I won't say anything about this nor will I do anything else about it because come to think of it, what has done my kind for me? Punish my brothers, good men, for a crime that proved to be made up but this little human has not only saved my life, she's here in the presence of people that are the only hope for humanity, the only chance they may get of not losing themselves and turning into animals, of being united even if they all burn in the pursue of their goal; And she's choosing not to give me up. No, I will not betray her.

"My head hurts," Penryn whimpers

"We'll talk more in the morning," says Obi. He guides her up and over a couple of steps to a cot in the shadows and my guard does the same across the room.

As she's lying down on her side with her wrists tied up behind her back, Obadiah sits next to her and ties her ankles together, He gently puts a pillow under her head, no pillows for me, obviously. Then, slowly he's brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear,  
"You'll be all right," he says. "The men will have strict orders to be gentlemanly toward you."  
Funny thing to say while caressing a tied up woman, if you ask me.

"Thank you," she answers.

Obi and his man collect the bowls of stew and leave. The lock clicks behind them.

"Thank you?" yeah leave me here all defenseless in the midst of a group of unruly men! And you told them to behave? OMG Thank you! I want to slap her.

"Shut up. I'm exhausted. I really need to get some sleep."

"What you need is to decide who's on your side and who's not."

AKA I'm on your side, blind midget.

"Will you tell them?" Right now I want to, I don't know why that thank you has gotten under my skin, but it has. And even if I have decided against it I want to tell her that I will crush this feeble excuse of an army, instead of that I remain quiet, calming myself.

There's a long pause.

There is one thing I'm curious about though,

"Why did you come here?" I ask, "Why didn't you run away like we both know you should have?"

"Stupid, huh?"

"Very."

"I just…couldn't."

There it is, this is why I can't betray the midget. I think about what would have happened it the situation was the opposite, would I have left her here? Or would I have continued my way, and I know my answer in this exact moment would have been the same, I don't want to explore the bond that is emerging between us, but nah what am I saying? No bond no friendship no nothing, it's just a truce between enemies with a common goal. Just that.

We lie in silence, listening to the crickets.

I wonder what she's thinking.

**_Soooo there is a mean virus that encrypts all your files and it is superrr fun triying to get rid of it as you loose more and more of your stuff hehe, but well, that's it for now! Hope you like it :)lemme know what you think!_**

**_XXX_**


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